Green Deal: the key to a climate-neutral and sustainable EU and US

The European Parliament has launched a Green Deal-core strategy as a part of the government’s health and economic sustainability goal.  It is also viewed as substantially beneficial for the COVID-19 economic recovery too.  We describe how the deal is expressed as a climate-neutral European future.

At the present time of writing, the coronavirus pandemic has clobbered the economy, and yet, it also reduced the high level of carbon emissions.  The former left the EU dealing with an inevitable economic recession while the latter boosted the awareness of impact that previous rates of carbon gases and industrial air toxicity had impacted our lifetime -particularly for asthmatic patients and those with skin and respiratory impairments. And so a resolution was adopted on 15 May 2020 by the Parliament that called for an ambitious COVID-19 recovery project with GreenDeal at its center. 

In response to the resolution, the European Commission initiated the Next Generation EU, a €750 billion recovery plan for COVID-19. The recovery plan and the long-term budget (needs approval) by member states and Parliament, to create a greener, more inclusive, digital, and sustainable Europe increasing resilience to expected crises like climate crisis. 

However, in 2019, Parliament had already declared a Climate Emergency and requested the Commission to frame its proposal considering a 1.5 °C target for reducing global warming ensuring reduction in emission of greenhouse gases. 

Responding to that, the Commission came up with European Green Deal, a European road map to become a climate-neutral continent by 2050.

And now we have what is considered a powerful first step of the Green Deal in place.  It can be described as powerful for the following reasons:

1. Finance 

At the beginning of 2020, the Commission highlighted the Sustainable Europe Investment Plan, to finance the Green Deal by collecting €1 trillion from public and private investment over the next 10 years. 

In Mid-2020, the Commission proposed a loan facility for the public sector to support green investment in areas that depend on fossil fuels. 

1. Achieving climate neutrality goal

In March 2020, the Commission proposed the European Climate Law, a legal entity to reach the neutrality goal by 2050. Parliament called for more projects aimed at reducing emissions. 

Parliament adopted its EU climate Law, in October 2020, following the 2050 climate neutrality goal and achieving a 60% target by 2030. 

1. Empowering EU industries and SMEs to join

In March 2020, the Commission proposed an Industrial strategy to ensure that European businesses consider climate neutrality on priority. In November 2020, Parliament revised the proposal reflecting the impact of the pandemic. 

1. Enforcing the EU circular economy 

The commission also proposed the EU Circular Economy Action plan that revolves around the entire life cycle of products focusing on the circular economy, enhancing sustainable consumption, and assuring less waste. The plan focuses on:

• batteries and vehicles;

• construction and buildings;

• Electronics and ICT;

• packaging and plastics;

• textiles; and 

• the food chain.

1. Motivating an accelerated sustainable food system

The food sector is one of the main sectors responsible for climate change. Some people believe that EU agriculture is the only sector responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% since 1990. It still creates 10% of emissions out of which 70% is caused by animals. 

1. Highlighting full ecological biodiversity programmes as essential

EU aims to preserve biodiversity by working on the extinction of one million species. As per the EU's Biodiversity strategy for 2030, the commission will work together to protect nature. Its main objective include:

• Increase in protected areas;

• Reversing the dropping pollinations. 

• planting more than three billion trees by 2030, and;

• saving €20 billion per year for biodiversity.